As many readers are aware, I have
frequently been away from my studio over the last few weeks, tending
to our Springer Spaniel, Cale, on her journey fighting cancer.
This new routine has resulted in opportunities for lots of reading
and time to think about all the questions and emails I receive
and that I don’t necessarily respond to directly on my blog. When I started
this blog almost two years ago, I decided I should focus on painting.
While, of course, I wanted to try to respond to every email inquiry
about my materials and process, I wanted to spend my time painting
and not writing lengthy blog posts. On my blog, I wanted the paintings
to exist on their own, just as they do when they hang on a gallery
wall. Also, blogging was new to me and I was unsure how much of
myself I felt comfortable putting forward. Since that time, I have
grown and have discovered that (when I have time) I like reading
other artists’ writings about the work that they’ve just posted,
their work in general, their studio habits/challenges, influences
on their work, etc. Sharing these things is one of the most amazing
aspects of artist blogging – enabling and fostering connections
between communities of artists. These communities are “virtual” in
that they exist in the World Wide Web, but they are also real because
they involve actual people. In becoming a part of the daily painting
world, I have learned that its supportive community might be the
most important thing for an artist to have. It is in this spirit
that I’ve decided to post some of my writings. My first post focuses
on my journey toward becoming a daily painter, including the role
writing has played for me.

I can safely say that my journey toward
becoming a painter starts with my mom. To this day, she continues
to have a primary influence on my art. She herself is an incredible
artist. She has lived her life painting (and teaching), and she
has the best “eye” of anyone I know. She
inspires me. To her, I owe so much of what makes me who I am as
an artist.

You wouldn’t guess it from my blog, but writing is an
integral part of my artistic life. In this arena, my dad and my
older sister have been my primary influences. They both have always
encouraged me to write and have provided me with guidance to develop
my writing. I regularly submit essays, commentaries, articles, and
curatorial proposals, etc. to a variety of publications. I also often write and
revise statements about my ink paintings (these are the ink on paper works that
I show in galleries and exhibitions – see abbeyryan.com). Most recently, I’ve
been working on a commentary about the critical methodology of daily
painting.

Many
daily painters often write about what inspired them to start their
own Painting a Day blog (or some variation on that idea). I’ve never
posted about this, so I thought I would share a bit about my influences
and experiences.

The most influential
experiences I have had with regard to the tone and gesture of my
work occurred in my life prior to my daily painting project. As
a daily painter/blogger, though, (and all that comes with that experience)
I have been inspired by Duane Keiser. I don’t think anyone would argue that Mr. Keiser is
the father of the PAD movement. Perhaps readers can add comments about other
painters who should also be given attribution for their contributions. In my
experience, any conversation or article about PAD usually includes Mr. Keiser
and he is often aptly used as a comparative reference point in the PAD community.
While my earlier experiences are those that resonate most directly in my work
itself, my daily painting project has been influenced by the groundwork Mr. Keiser
has laid for all daily painters; we are truly indebted to him. Mr. Keiser, among
other things, inspires a re-evaluation of common visual experiences – to
see possibilities and potential in all things. Together, my earlier
influences (more on those in a minute) and those I have experienced
in the last few years have provided me with a deep well from which
to draw and engage with painting in a deeply personal way.

My first introduction to a PAD blog came from a link my mom
sent me. It was a link to Justin Clayton’s blog. At the time, I had just completed
my MFA at Hunter College in NYC and felt like I had a fairly good grasp on the
art world (or at least the New York art world of 2007), and I had never even
heard of PAD blogging. By that time, I think Mr. Clayton had been keeping up
his daily painting work for quite some time. I was inspired! I soon saw that
many other artists were doing the same thing. I was even more inspired! At the
time, I was already painting every day and working at the computer doing freelance
design, so I didn’t really
pore over the decision to start my own daily painting blog. I think
I started it maybe the next day. It was all very new and exciting.

Shortly thereafter, I
came across Mr. Keiser’s blog. Although he was no longer
posting a painting a day at that time, I was inspired and influenced by his innovation,
his prolificacy, and his choice of subject matter. In his choices, I felt a kinship.
Some of Mr. Keiser’s work brought me back to the time five years
earlier when I studied with David A. Leffel at the Art Students
League of New York.

The time
I spent studying with David Leffel (and, later, Charles Sovek) deeply
impacted (and forever changed) the course of my painting life. It’s one thing to look at paintings
in books or in museums, but it’s another thing to talk with a living Master,
to have him/her look at your painting and respond to it, and to just simply watch
him/her paint. Thanks to the generosity of my patrons, the first time I had watched
anyone paint (other than my mom) was when I watched Mr. Leffel paint in 2002.
I felt like I was on a rollercoaster ride. It sounds cliché, but seriously – I
felt like I was physically moving through space, almost like I was flying. I
was and continue to be inspired by Mr. Leffel’s demeanor, the cadence of his
speech, the way he holds his brush, the slowness of his process, the Renaissance
light, the significance of using natural objects, and the idea that the first
brushstroke on a canvas is just as “finished” as the last. I became
dedicated to painting with Maroger medium (which I now only use
sparingly because of the fumes).

During my studies with Mr. Leffel, we painted simple objects and
ordinary set ups – a single vegetable, a ceramic cup with a piece of fruit, a bowl – as
well as live models. I learned that I love to paint patterning. I learned that
I loved to set up a still life at eye level with an inspiring bit of light cascading
unevenly across the set up. That summer, I took the subway up to the Art Students
League on 57th Street everyday. I fell in love with the act of painting every
day. I ate my hard-boiled egg lunch, sitting on the sidewalk out in front of
the League. One of my favorite things was how, since we used only natural light,
by the end of the painting day we’d almost be painting in the dark.
The experience had such an impact on me that everything Mr. Leffel
offered to me by way of word and experience is forever imprinted
in my method and expression.

The following
year, I enrolled in a workshop with Charles Sovek because I was
planning to visit a close friend in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Mr.
Sovek’s way
was an entirely new species of painting to me. I was and continue to be inspired
by Mr. Sovek’s painterly approach, his heightened awareness of and emphasis on
color, his choice of everyday and popular/Pop subject matter, the alla prima
en Plein air methodology, his choice of brushes, the sense of abstraction being
present in all painting, and the freshness of his completed paintings. It was
such a gift to study with Mr. Sovek; his passing was a true loss for so many
painters who have been inspired by him. For me, Mr. Sovek was the perfect innovative
yin to the yang of Mr. Leffel’s tradition. What stays with me from
my time with him is the notion that I might really be able to live
my life as a painter. Mr. Sovek did this for me.

Last but not least, I am indebted to Betsey Batchelor for
my introduction to oil painting during my undergraduate studies.
I’ve mentioned
her once or twice before on this blog, and I vividly recall making my first oil
painting in her Painting class. I was and continue to be inspired by Ms. Batchelor’s
humor, sensibility of color, the value and awareness of space, the importance
of atmosphere, the importance of keeping a paintbrush’s ferrule
clean, as well as a greater understanding that painting is always
reflective. I distinctly remember many things she said to me during
my studies. She thankfully also instilled in me a permanent love
for Morandi, Cezanne, Rembrandt, Thomas Eakins, and Velasquez.

I will never forget
January of 2002 when Ms. Batchelor took me to the Philadelphia Art
Museum and I saw a Thomas Eakins rowers painting in person for the
first time. Eakins’s
juxtaposition of blue and orange/brown brushstrokes to create the shimmering
color and light that is unique to Philadelphia and the Schuylkill River permanently
changed the way I look at water. Since that moment, I wanted to paint the Schuylkill
River, but fear always stopped me… until recently. I
recently started painting the Schuylkill – I just finished teaching a summer
Landscape Painting class at the University where I teach, and one of the locations
where we painted was the Schuylkill. (Now I can’t wait to paint
more Schuylkill River paintings!)

And, finally, painters in the PAD community have most recently
inspired me. Nowadays, I am drawn to painterly painters whose paintings,
in my observation, seem to be mostly about paint and mark making; artists who push paint around like it’s poetry.
I think there may always be an implicit pressure to be innovative in most genres,
yet within the PAD community, this innovation may exist in our going against
the prevailing postmodern ideology. I believe part of the beauty of the daily
painting movement is that so many artists (hundreds? thousands?) are painting
and sharing much of the same thing – everyday objects that we find in our homes
and gardens, at markets and roadside stands. This is not a new idea in the context
of the history of painting, but the simplicity of a set up and composition enables
daily painters to focus on practice. Among many things, my own interest in my
oil paintings lies in process, detail, and gesture. For me, content is derived
from this place. The manner in which a subject is painted is unique to every
artist. I think the obvious challenge of exhibiting work via a blog on the Web
is that the work is not viewed (at least initially) in person. The presence,
details, and tactile gestures are what make each artist’s paintings
unique. Viewing paintings solely on the Web requires a much closer
look and a broader understanding. We painters intimately and personally
respond to our subject matter in a manner that connects each of
us within the daily painting community, yet also individualizes
us as artists, each painting in a deeply personal way.

I am grateful to all those I have mentioned here and so many others
I didn’t include. I carry you all with me, as I am inspired to offer
my readers and collectors what I discover about the living thing
that is painting. I am happy and appreciative that you continue
to join me in this adventure.